Arsenal
The Gunners have accrued 2.01 points per game in 2023 and though a late-season collapse last spring denied them their first league title for two decades it’s only right and proper to focus on the vast successful strides they’ve made.
Mikel Arteta’s men are now title contenders, no longer top four challengers. A very decent summer transfer window that showed plenty of ambition comes into play too.
Rating: A
Aston Villa
Villa’s rise under Unai Emery has been nothing short of extraordinary, transforming from relegation candidates to a side now capable of just about anything.
They last lost at Villa Park all the way back in February. Furthermore, in a league table encompassing the entirety of 2023, they proudly reside in second spot going into Christmas, ahead of Arsenal and Liverpool.
They have quickly and surprisingly become a force to be reckoned with these past 12 months.
Rating: A+
Bournemouth
Recent results strongly hint that the Cherries are finally getting to grips with Iraola-ball and if that is indeed the case, that bodes extremely well for their second half to this campaign.
They will likely be a fascinating proposition beyond the new year, a team looking up in the league, not over their shoulder.
As for this past year, an impressive recovery between February and April pulled them out of the relegation mire but this is nullified somewhat by a poor start to 2023/24. All told, a B-minus grade feels about right.
Rating: B-
Brentford
A disappointing run of results from mid-November on means there is a touch of bathos to Brentford’s year that otherwise has been extremely encouraging.
At the very least it can be said that after enjoying a brilliant opening season in the top-flight the Bees have established themselves now among the elite. Which is no small feat.
In safe hands with the criminally under-rated Thomas Frank, the West London club have coped admirably with Ivan Toney’s extended absence but if we are to be overly-critical there have been too many draws snatched from the jaws of victory.
Rating: B
Brighton
There is a suggestion of late that teams have finally figured Brighton out, and certainly a mixed run of results from autumn onwards gives weight to that claim.
But how can we possibly overlook the seismic impact Roberto De Zerbi has had since arriving at the Amex, implementing a model of football that has made the Seagulls a second favourite team for many.
This past year they have smashed Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United, out-playing them in spectacular fashion.
Rating: A-
Burnley
It’s been a year of two halves for the Clarets, losing only once from January to May on route to the Championship title then taking the brave/rash decision to churn their successful squad, prioritising young players to start anew at a significantly tougher level.
It’s fair to say it’s an experiment that has not worked out for them thus far, with a swift return to the second tier looking likelier by the week. They regrettably look nailed on in the Premier League relegation odds.
When we look at the big picture, Burnley are in much better shape now to previous years. That keeps their grade high.
Rating: B-
Chelsea
A gargantuan summer overhaul of personnel and the appointment of Mauricio Pochettino was supposed to represent a fresh start for the Blues, after a bitterly disappointing opening season of the Todd Boehly era.
Instead 2023/24 has heralded more of the same, as one false dawn after another gives way to tepid defeats.
Only three teams across Europe’s big five leagues have lost more games this past year, this after splurging over a billion pounds across three transfer windows.
Frankly it’s been a circus and the clowns are in charge.
Rating: D -
Crystal Palace
The Eagles didn’t pick up their first league win of 2023 until April, mired in a slump of Patrick Vieira’s making.
Defying all convention that says he should be tucked under a blanket watching Countdown, Roy Hodgson has come in and done a sound job, organising his troops in a manner that makes them hard to beat and pulling them clear of danger last term.
Goals however have consistently been a problem for Palace, and this was the case even before they lost Wilfried Zaha over the summer.
Last season, two of the three relegated sides out-scored them. This season only the bottom two have scored fewer.
Rating: C
Everton
What an eventful year it’s been for the Toffees, one that saw them survive the drop on the final day, start the new campaign brightly – especially away from home – only to then have ten of their hard-earned points taken from them due to a FFP breach.
The manner in which they have responded to the Premier League charge has impressed but they have to be marked down severely for winning only five games in the first half of the year, four of them by a goal to nil.
Rating: D+
Fulham
The Cottagers have become the great unpredictables under Marco Silva, as capable of surrendering without putting up much of a fight as dispensing a five-goal thrashing. Subsequently, this makes them hard to grade.
Should they be praised for maintaining a mid-table berth for the entirety of the year? After all, this is not a squad packed with superstars and expensive signings, far from it.
Their easy-on-the-eye football is a plus too.
Or should it count against them that they began 2023 chasing a wholly unexpected top six spot before almost immediately falling away?
The latter feels too harsh, especially factoring in the goals Aleksander Mitrovic took with him to Saudi Arabia.
Rating: B-
Liverpool
The established trope has it that Jurgen Klopp’s side was a broken machine last season, in need of overhaul after exhausting itself from chasing down Manchester City several times over.
A new-look midfield has subsequently revived them, prompting a title challenge from a team getting back to its best.
This narrative overlooks that from February onwards, Liverpool’s results notably picked up, putting in some vintage performances too.
They’ve been getting back to their best now for some time with the summer additions of Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai cherries on top.
Rating: A-
Luton Town
Winning promotion to the top-flight, just nine years after emerging from the Conference, has to be our biggest consideration here, much more than anything that has transpired since August.
That’s because, without wishing to downplay what they’ve done in the big time to date, everybody expected the Hatters to be difficult to beat at Kenilworth Road and everybody expected them to be scrapping near the bottom throughout. Both of these things have come to pass.
They’re still lacking a famous win over a top six giant. Let’s hope that occurs in the near-future.
Rating: A-
Manchester City
After several near-misses and some outright failures, City became kings of Europe last June, a Champions League triumph that additionally secured them a famous treble.
It was the high point so far of a formidable and sustained period of dominance enjoyed under Pep Guardiola, one that has pinned English football down in a stranglehold.
The FA Cup was comfortably won while a fifth Premier League title in six years was attained via a ruthless chasing down of Arsenal that used up every bit of their considerable resources.
A recent blip or two, as a degree of complacency inevitably creeps in, takes away their plus in the grading. Make no mistake about it though, this is a generational team doing generational things.
Rating: A
Manchester United
Erik Ten Hag’s opening season in charge at Old Trafford was a highly encouraging one, the latter half of last term bringing the Reds a first trophy in six years in the form of a League Cup.
They also reached the FA Cup final while eight wins in their concluding 11 league fixtures brought Champions League football back to the Theatre of Dreams.
What could have gone wrong since however, has gone wrong, with poor recruitment over the summer bleeding into a campaign that has consistently veered between crisis and calamity.
How they are currently sixth, and just six points off Manchester City, is a mystery even the great fictional detectives would steer well clear of.
Rating: C+
Newcastle United
Securing Champions League football was always a pivotal part of the Magpies’ plans post-takeover.
That it was attained ahead of schedule is testimony to the terrific work Eddie Howe has done – and is doing – in the North-East.
A seemingly never-ending injury crisis has placed all manner of obstacles in their path this term but a formidable record at home has kept them on track while looking beyond the results - impressive mostly, though a recent downturn must be acknowledged – it can be said that the good times are back at St James Park with every moment being savoured by its faithful.
That counts for a lot.
Rating: B+
Nottingham Forest
It’s been all told a tough year for Forest and this has especially been the case away from the City Ground where they have picked up a measly 14 points from a possible 63 on the road.
At home, their passionate fan-base played a big part in the Tricky Trees guaranteeing survival last term and they will likely be needed again in the spring.
Across the past 12 months, Forest averaged 1.02 points-per-90, a hardly bountiful tally that has meant they have resided between 16th and 18th for 46% of 2023.
Like we say, it’s been a tough year.
Rating: B-
Sheffield United
The Blades commendably shrugged off their Play-Off pain from the previous May and managed to mount a successful promotion campaign last season.
Forged on a parsimonious defence that conceded only 0.8 goals per 90, Paul Heckingbottom’s side were residents of the top two from early November on.
Clever use of the loan market brought in Manchester City youngsters Tommy Doyle and James McAtee who were both key.
The reality check of 2023/24 however has been one almighty slap across their face, an eight-goal demolition at the hands of Newcastle amounting to the worst of it.
Rock-bottom at Christmas and under new management, it’s going to take a great escape to avoid an immediate return to the Championship.
Rating: B-
Tottenham Hotspur
Nobody really believed Spurs could threaten the Premier League odds outright market and win a title in Ange Postecoglou’s first season.
Inheriting a side that finished eighth in 2022/23, and then losing Harry Kane six weeks into the job, made anything but a chase for a Champions League spot an impossible feat.
Let’s be honest though, when the North London giants flew out of the blocks, unbeaten in ten, and playing a far more adventurous brand of football to what we had become used to, such a far-fetched thought did flicker across our minds.
That alone represents significant progress.
Rating: B
West Ham
Winning their first European honour for 58 years – unless we include their Intertoto Cup success in 1999 and let’s not – was a substantial achievement for the Hammers, one that has given their fans a special memory to cherish forever.
In the league however they’ve become a model on inconsistency under David Moyes this past year, by turns impressing and frustrating, often on a weekly basis.
They are the closest side in the top-flight to ending 2023 with a zero goal difference, which says a lot about their Jeckyll and Hyde nature.
Rating: B-
Wolverhampton Wanderers
The arrival of Julen Lopetegui in November of last year resulted in Wolves climbing out of the bottom three and ultimately securing a mid-table berth. The future looked promising at Molineux.
Only then, their poor financial affairs necessitated sales over the summer, and when these players were not replaced, their Spanish saviour upped sticks in protest, leaving the club managerless just six days prior to the new season’s curtain-raiser.
What Gary O’Neil has done in the West Midlands warrants acclaim, orchestrating wins over Manchester City and Chelsea, and guiding them to 11th at the time of writing.
Wolves will not be in the relegation conversation this season and back in August they would have taken that gladly.
Rating: B+
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to Alamy*
